Improvement in ivory-covered books



ilNirn STATES 'ATENT imion..

JULIUS H. PRATT, NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN IVORY-COVERED BOOKS.

To all whom it may cmwera:

Be it known that I, JULrUs H. PRATT, of the city and county of New York, State of New York, have inven ted a new and useful Improvement in Ivory-Oovered Books; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making apart of this specification, in which- Figure 1 isa perspective view of a photograph-album having my invention applied to it. Fig. 2 is a sectional view representing the construction of the covering. Fig. 3 represents the mode of groducing` the sheets of ivory from the tusk. i

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the three figures.

My nvention consists in the employment of ivory, when prepared in a particular manner, for the covering of albums and other books wherein ornamentation and a neat exterior finish is desirablc, as will be hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will (lescribe its construction and operation.

Animal ivory is susccptiblc of receiving a very fine gloss and of retaining this gloss for an indefinite length of time. This peculiarity, together with its beauty and durability, reuders it a very desirablc material for the outside leaves or covering of books; but the obiection to using ivory for this purpose has hithertoarisen from the fact that the transversely or laterally cut slabs are necessarily so very small and the production ot slabs in this way attended with so much waste of stock that other and less expensive materials have been used in its stead. Other and greater objections to the use of cross-cut ivory for this purpose are, the difticulty of unitin g the slabs permanently together for large bookcovers and the liability of the slabs crackin g in the ordinary use of the books.

The preparation of the ivory for my improved method of adapting it for use as bookcovers consists in first reducing the tusk to a cylindrical form and subjecting the cylinder to a saw adapted to the purpose, by means of which the cylinder is cut from the circumference to the center in the form of a scroll or convolute sheet. By this mode of cutting sheets of ivory from tusks I am enabled to produce all the flexibility required for niy` purpose, and the surfaces of the sheets will receive a much finer polish than slabs ofivory cut (liametrically and longitudinally through the tusk. The clouded and waved appearanoe of the cross-cut ivory is almost obliterated by the mode of cutting which I have ad'opted, and hence it will receive a fine and beautiful appearance by bleachin g and polishing, which renders it especially useful for the coverin g of such books as require a neat and handsome external finish to augment their value. When the large sheets of ivory thus prodnced have been bleached, pressed, and polished., they are marked and out according to the different sizes of the books. The slabs should bc about the size of, the mili-board covers to which they are cemcnted, as represcnted in Fig. 2, a a being the outside ivorycovers and b b the inside mili-board to which the ivory is applied. The biuding of the book-al e., the stitching and uniting of the book to the mili-boards b b-may be done in the usual or in any desirable manner, after which the outside ivory covering is to be attached either by cementing, riveting, or in any other suitable manner. The book is now finished by binding the edges of the covers so as to protect them from injury. This binding is made of thin, narrow strips of metal, as-shown at c e, Figs. 1 and 2, bcnt so as to lap over the edges of the covers and to clamp and hold these edges firmly together. The strips of metal c', which extend across and overlap the back edge of the ivory covering a a, serve to tie the ends of strips e e together and also to give a finish to the covers. lt is obvious that the expense and labor of coverin g books with Scroll-cut ivory will be much less than that attending the use of cross-cut ivory, for in the former instance each side or cover is made of a single or unbroken sheet of ivory of a homogencous character, while in the latter case the strips or slabs require 'to be pieced or jointed together for books of common sizes, and these joints are very unsightly and liable to be opened in the ordinary use of the books.

The metallic binding e e e' serves not only as an ornament to the covers, but it also prevents the covers from warping and the ivory from splittin g in consequence of the exposure of the books to the heat of rooms. The metallic clasps d d, represented in Fig. 1, will also serve to prevent the ivory from Warping; and the stiffening-boards b b, to which the thin plates of ivory are applied, Will give protection and strength to them.

I do not desire to extend my invention to the use of two or more pieces of ivory applied to each side of a book as a covering therefor. Neither doI olaim, broadly, coverin g each side of a book with single unbroken sheets of ivory, for this may have been done before with very small books to a limited extent.

By my invention I am enabled to improve the external appearance and increase the durability of book-covers, and finallT to render .an ivory-covered book available to the trade as an article of merohandise.

In the Cutting of the ivory from the sheets the slabs may be made smaller than the millboard oovers to which they are to be applied, thus leaving a margin around, or partially around, the ivory slab to be oovered With velvet, cloth, leather, or some other suitable material.

Having thus described my invention, what I olaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Applying seamless or unbroken sheets of Scroll-cut ivory to the mill-board oovers of books in combination with the clam pin gbinding e 8, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. As a new and improved mode of preparing covers and covering books with ivory, the soroll-cutting and binding processes combined, substantially as and` for the purposes desoribed.

3. The method, substantially as set forth, of manufacturing seamless covers for books from Scroll-cut ivory.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a seamless scrolleut ivory-covered book, substantiallf)T as desoribed.

, J ULIUS H. PRATT. Witnesses S. S. STARRETT, GEO. A. HEAD. 

